E3 2003: Conflict Desert Storm 2: Hands-on

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Gotham Games' offers a high quality combat fighter.

By Douglass C. Perry

Strange how times change. A year ago, Gotham Games launched a relatively good game by the name of Conflict Desert Storm , a military, squad-based shooter that focuses on the first Persian Gulf War. One year later, and Conflict Desert Storm 2: Back to Baghdad is on the radar, and now more than ever, the idea of going into Baghdad appeals to Americans like it has never before. The game doesn't focus on this latest war, instead it's based on a fictitious war that follows the first Persian War.

Due on PS2, Xbox and PC by this Christmas, Conflict Desert Storm 2: Back to Baghdad is, once again, a squad-based, third-person perspective shooter that enables players to take a group of four militia through some sandy, beat up buildings for serious modern-day warfare. Players can switch between any of the four military men -- the Leader, Sniper, Heavy Militia, and the Demolition Man -- all of whom can be commanded to perform various AI tasks. Players take friendly fire and they can switch any weapons at any time, which is nice, but it's best to simply switch to the proper specialist and take him in.

The cool additions to this version spotlight the use of tanks. Players must confront enemy tanks and they also control tanks of their own. Your heavy arms troop is the only one who can take out a tank, and it takes clever strategy and good stealth to approach and take out a vehicle of that size. By commanding your troops to follow, we snuck out to the enemy tank and in the process eliminated any nearby enemies or opponents controlling the tank (such as machinegun men). Then using an anti-tank rocket, I took two shots to totally destroy the vehicle. The explosion was quite satisfying, too, as the vehicle literally blew up into pieces, particles and flames and essentially disappeared, leaving a healthy crater in the ground below it.

Honestly, I perceived the first game to be a rather been-there-done-that military game, but I was surprised at how well this version played and, what's more, how well it looked. The characters are well equipped, superbly textured and they move with a decent set of animations (we're hoping these will improve with time). The war-torn buildings and destroyed city dwellings rang all too true, given the most recent war, conveying Baghdad with sandy, earthen colors that range from dull beige to sandy brown to mixed brown, black and gray.

Players will be happy to know that the weapon list is based on the same modern weaponry the US military uses now. That includes everything from handguns, a slew of grenades and whatnot, rifles, sniper rifles, and heavy guns. This early list reads like this: Smoke bombs, grenades, anti-tank rockets, anti-aircraft rockets, C4 explosives, silenced pistols, claymores, hand knife, nigh-vision goggles, laser designator, the M16 A2 Rifle, Phosphorous Grenades, and a modified sniper rifle (a Heckler and Koch PSG1). You might notice that several of these weapons and gadgets weren't used in the previous Gulf War, and clearly Gotham is taking some liberties. But hey, it's game right?